‘THERE’S A HEALTHY CURIOSITY ABOUT INDIA’
Huma Qureshi feels Hollywood was a culturally enriching experience
Huma Qureshi took a giant career leap last year, with a Hollywood film, the Zack Snyderdirected Army of the Dead. While shooting for it was an “enriching” experience, she says it was exciting to feed the curiosity the international cast and crew members had about India.
Asked if she encountered any Indian-related stereotypes on the set, Huma says, “Not at all. I think there’s a healthy curiosity about India, Bollywood and our culture. The cast and crew members were like, ‘We want to come to India’, some people had already visited so they wanted to ask more questions about our cities, food, movies. I always happily gave them information.”
The actor shares that every day, while getting her makeup done, she’d play a few of the latest Hindi numbers and her colleagues found them fun and peppy. They even once prepared an Indian meal. “I feel opportunities like these are great for cultural exchange, where you get to know about each other in such a wholesome way,” she adds.
And Huma felt everyone took “amazingly good care” of her. Besides, she loved the experience as she got to travel to small towns in the US where she “got to see and be a part of their world”. That, she says, is “really a true achievement of this explosion of content worldwide”.
How was it working with Snyder, known for helming films of the scale of Man of Steel (2013), 300 (2016) and Justice League (2017)? “Oh, it was very exciting,” shares Huma, who has dabbled in the zombie genre for the first time, with Snyder’s film. “I had a great time working not just with Zack, but also with [actor] Dave Bautista, the rest of the cast and crew. It has been a very enriching experience as an actor, as so much attention to detail has gone into making it. Just learning how things happen on the other side of the world, has been fulfilling,” she adds.
Huma, who worked for about four months on this film, recounts how on days she felt homesick or lonely, she’d keep reminding herself, “Here’s a director who directed 300, and you’re getting a chance to work with him... How many people would get an opportunity like that?’”